Angel Aguilar (born May 8, 1974), better known by his stage names Agallah, 8-Off, Brad Piff, Swagallah and Agallah Don Bishop, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and producer. He was a member of

The Diplomats The Diplomats (also known as Dipset) is an American hip hop collective formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jim Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom gre ...

-affiliated group Purple City and he is the CEO of his label Propain Campain. He was formerly known as 8-Off Agallah. He has ghostwritten songs for many well-known artists. In addition to producing his own music, he also produced tracks for Busta Rhymes,

Remy Ma Reminisce Mackie ( Smith; born May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Discovered by Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad. In 2006, she released her debut stud ...

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

Rockin' Squat Rockin' Squat or Mathias Cassel, whose real name is Mathias Crochon () (born September 7, 1970), is a French rapper, producer and director. He is the founder of Assassin, and co-founder of the Franco-Brazilian film festival Planeta Ginga. During ...

Sean Price Sean Duval Price (March 17, 1972August 8, 2015) was an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Boot Camp Clik. He was one half of the duo Heltah Skeltah, performing under the name Ruck, along with partner Rock. Early life and educa ...

, Saigon, Game Theory, PMD, Das Efx, Mobb Deep and

Big Pun Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the e ...

. In 1995, he finished his debut album, ''Wrap Your Lips Around This'', but it was never properly released because the album was shelved. In 2012, ''Wrap Your Lips Around This'' became available for digital download from

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

and iTunes after being unreleased for many years.

History

Agallah was born and raised in the Brownsville area of the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

borough of

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Agallah started out as a producer, then turned to rhyming and released a major-label single on East West America/ Elektra Records in 1995. In 1997, he featured on

R.A. the Rugged Man R.A. Thorburn, better known by his stage name R.A. the Rugged Man, is an American rapper and producer. He began his music career at age 12, building a reputation locally for his lyrical skills. Thorburn signed with major label Jive Records at ...

's track "Till My Heart Stops" on the

Rawkus Records Rawkus Records was an American hip hop record label known for starting the careers of many rappers. Rawkus started in 1995 with releases in hip-hop, drum and bass and fun-dustrial (Dystopia One). Label heads Brian Brater and Jarret Myer then si ...

Soundbombing ''Soundbombing'' is a hip hop compilation album by Rawkus Records, released on October 14, 1997. The album helped launch the careers of Mos Def and Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek), who later became Rawkus's most popular artists. ''Sou ...

'' compilation an underground classic. A collaboration with Mr. Cheeks of the

Lost Boyz Lost Boyz are an American hip hop group from Queens, New York, consisting of MC Mr. Cheeks, Freaky Tah, and K Chrys. Originally in the early 90's LB consisted of Mr. Cheeks, Freaky Tah, Spigg Nice, and Pretty Lou. Member K Chrys or “K ...

followed, although the album the single was to appear on, ''Wrap Your Lips Around This'', was never released. Additionally, there were production stints for the likes of

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is a concatenation of the members' names "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. ...

Das EFX Das EFX is an American hip hop duo. It consists of emcees Dray (also known as Krazy Drayz, born Andre Weston, September 9, 1970) and Skoob (also known as Books and Boogie Bang, born William "Willie" Hines, November 27, 1970). They named the ...

Onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The ...

, and

Group Home A group home, congregate living facility, or care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English) is a residence model of medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children ...

. In 2000, Agallah recorded the ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

''-themed single "Crookie Monster," which became an underground hit, and featured production by

The Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...

. In early 1997, Agallah teamed up with

member PMD and formed the hip hop group D.B.D. (Death B4 Dishonor). The other members of the group were Ike Eyes, 215 and Deke O'Malley. The group was short-lived but they recorded a demo album which featured artist

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts rapper Guru. For the entirety of their association, they were based out of Brooklyn, New York. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2 ...

John Forté John Forté (born January 30, 1975) is an American recording artist and producer. He is primarily known for being a member of the musical duo Refugee Camp All-Stars, and his production work on the Fugees album '' The Score''. He has released f ...

, Special Ed, and Lil Dap of

. D.B.D. also released a single entitled "Feel This" which was produced by KRS-One's brother Kenny Parker. A friendship with Shiest Bub led to the formation of Purple City Entertainment (also known as Purple City Productions) with Un Kasa, which attracted the attention of

Dipset The Diplomats (also known as Dipset) is an American hip hop collective formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jim Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew ...

capo

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...

. Shiest had been doing promotional work for Cam'ron and

Juelz Santana LaRon Louis James (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats, also known as Dipset. He is best known for his appearances on Cam'ron's 2002 si ...

. For the new Purple City project, Agallah was christened "the Don Bishop", with Shiest as "the Emperor." Jones' enthusiasm for Ag's track "Gangsta" garnered the producer/MC a slot on the ''Diplomats Volume 4'' mixtape. Purple City signed to

Babygrande Records Babygrande Records is an American independent record label based in New York City, founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by The Orchard and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood. History Babygrande Records wa ...

in late 2004. The following year, the label released a "greatest hits" collection that culled tracks from their mixtapes. Agallah's profile as a solo artist has also expanded in the wake of Purple City's rise, with the release of '' You Already Know'' (featuring appearances by

Dead Prez Dead Prez, often stylized as dead prez, is an American hip hop duo composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self ...

and Nappy Roots, with production by

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop du ...

and Alchemist) on Babygrande coupled with the release of the mixtape ''Propane Piff'' on

Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had ...

. His song "Risin' to the Top" appeared in the

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

' '' Grand Theft Auto III'' video game, on the Game Radio FM radio station. Agallah later teamed up with Rockstar Games to record the soundtrack for Midnight Club 2. Agallah's beats are also in the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

basketball game '' NBA Live 08'' and ''UFC Undisputed''. In mid-2007, Agallah stated in a MySpace bulletin that he was no longer signed to Babygrande. In 2012, Agallah featured on rapper/producer Danny!'s seventh studio album ''

Payback Payback may refer to: * Revenge, a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance Payback may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Payback, a member of the fictional comics superhero team Shadow ...

''. Agallah can be seen featured in a number of videos with fellow Propain Campaign member PopOff, including the "Make It Out" video. One of a number of PopOff music videos produced by Vertex Media, a Hollywood-based film production company.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Wrap Your Lips Around This'' (November 21, 1995, EastWest) (as 8-Off) * ''You Already Know'' (2006, Babygrande) * ''Agalito's Way'' (2015, Propain Campain) * ''Bo: The Legend of the Water Dragon'' (2016, Propain Campain) * ''Agnum Opus'' (2017, The Order Label) * ''Ag Al Ghul - No Mercy For The Weak (2018, The Order Label)'' * ''Live At Your Own Risk (2019, Propain Compain)'' * ''Fuck You: The Album - (2020, Propain Campain)'' * ''Francisco Blanco'' (2021) * ''Agstalgia'' (2021) * ''2021 (2021, Propain Campain)'' * ''High Level Art'' (2021) * ''High Level Art 2 - Blakeside Galleria (2021, Propain Campain)'' * ''The Year Of The Tiger (2022, Propain Campain)''

EPs and mixtapes

* ''Da Mixtape Iz da Album'' (2001) * ''Show Up'' (2002) (as 8-Off Agallah) * ''Doomsday'' (2004) * ''Propane Piff'' (2006, Babygrande/Koch) * ''Cakemix'' (2006, Propain Campain) * ''Fuck a Purple Chain'' (2007) * ''F.A.M.E.'' (2008, Propain Campain) * ''Agobama The President'' (2008) * 09 Is Mines'' (2009, Propain Campain) * ''Forever Fire The EP'' (2012, Propain Campain) * ''Agallah Presents Propain Campain Mixtape'' (2012, Propain Campain) * ''The Red V'' (2013, Propain Campain) * ''Propain Campain Presents Agallah The Instrumentals Vol.1'' (2014, Propain Campain) * ''The Life of Don Francis (Prelude To Agalito's Way)'' (2014, Propain Campain) * ''Past and Present'' (2014, Propain Campain) (with

) * ''Don Status'' (2015, Propain Campain) * ''Flight of the Cranes'' (2015, self-released) (with DirtyDiggs) * ''3-Day Theory'' (2017, The Order Label) (with Duke WestLake) * ''Aggravated'' (2020, self-released) * ''Black Anarchy Music'' (2020, Propain Campain) * ''Darona'' (2020, Propain Campain) * ''Darona 2'' (2020, Propain Campain) * ''2021'' (2021, self-released)

Singles

* "Ghetto Girl" (1995, EastWest) (as 8-Off) * "Alize for Dolo" (1996, EastWest) (as 8-Off) * "Crookie Monster" (1999, Game) * "Rising to the Top" (featuring

) (2002, Game) (as 8-Off Agallah) * "Imagine Your Life" (featuring

Monie Love Simone Johnson or Simone Gooden (born 2 July 1970), better known by her stage name Monie Love, is a British rapper, actress and radio personality from London. Best known for her singles during the late–1980s through the 1990s, Monie Love curr ...

) (2002, Street Level) (as 8-Off Agallah) * "New York Ryder Music" (2006, Babygrande) * "Club Hoppin'" (2006, Babygrande) * "Coat of Arms" (featuring

Planet Asia Jason Cullen Green (born October 24, 1976), better known as Planet Asia, is a rapper from Fresno, California. He is prominent for being one half of the now reunited hip-hop duo the Cali Agents and is currently a member of the groups Gold Chain ...

Rasco Keida Brewer (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as Rasco (a bacronym for "Realistic, Ambitious, Serious, Cautious, and Organized"), is an American rapper. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Rasco became associated with hip hop in California. ...

& Tristate) (2013, Propain Campain) *"Slavery" (2016, Propain Campain) Blood sweat and Tears By Knowledge Born featuring Agallah

References

External links

* {{Authority control American hip hop record producers Living people Musicians from Brooklyn Rappers from Brooklyn Underground rappers 1974 births 21st-century American rappers Record producers from New York (state) People from Brownsville, Brooklyn East West Records artists